The aircraft, registered G-APFE, disintegrated and crashed near Mount Fuji in Japan shortly after departure from Haneda Airport, at the start of the Tokyo–Hong Kong segment. All 113 passengers and 11 crew members were killed in the disaster, including a group of 75 Americans associated with Thermo King of Minneapolis, Minnesota,[2] on a 14-day company sponsored tour of Japan and Southeast Asia. There were 26 couples travelling together in the group, leaving a total of 63 children orphaned.[3]

Contents

The aircraft arrived in Haneda at 12:40 on the day of the accident from Fukuoka Airport where it had diverted the previous day due to conditions on the ground in Tokyo.[4] The weather there had since improved behind a cold front with a steep pressure gradient bringing cool dry air from the Asian mainland on a strong west-northwest flow, with crystal clear sky conditions. During their time on the ground, the crew received a weather briefing from a company representative, and filed an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan calling for a southbound departure from Haneda via the island of Izu Ōshima, then on airway JG6 to Hong Kong at flight level 310 (31,000 feet).[4]

At 13:42 the crew contacted air traffic control requesting permission to start engines, and amending their clearance request to a visual meteorological conditions (VMC) climb westbound via the Fuji-Rebel-Kushimoto waypoints, which would take them nearer to Mount Fuji, possibly to give the passengers a better view of the landmark.[5] The aircraft began taxiing at 13:50 and took off into the northwest wind at 13:58. After takeoff, the aircraft made a continuous climbing right turn over Tokyo Bay, and rolled out on a southwest heading, passing north of Odawara.[6] It then turned right again toward the mountain, flying over Gotemba on a heading of approximately 298°, at an indicated airspeed of 320 to 370 knots, and an altitude of approximately 4,900 m (16,000 ft), well above the 3,776 m (12,388 ft) mountain peak.[4] The aircraft then encounted strong winds, causing it to break up in flight, and crash into a forest near the mountain.

The aircraft left a debris field 16 km (10 mi) long.[7] Analysis of the location of wreckage allowed the accident investigators to determine that the vertical stabiliser attachment to the fuselage failed first. It left paint marks indicating that it broke off the port side horizontal stabiliser as it departed to the left and down. A short time later, the ventral fin and all four engine pylons failed due to a leftward over-stress, shortly followed by the remainder of the empennage.[8] The aircraft then entered a flat spin, with the forward fuselage section and the outer starboard wing breaking off shortly before impact with the ground.[7][9]

Although some stress cracking was found in the vertical stabiliser bolt holes, it was determined by subsequent testing that it did not contribute to this accident. Still, it was potentially a significant safety-of-flight issue. Subsequent inspections on Boeing 707 and similar Boeing 720 aircraft as a result of this discovery did reveal this was a common problem, and corrective maintenance actions on the fleet eventually followed.[10]

One day after the crash, speculation was that fierce winds above Mount Fuji were responsible. The New York Times reported: "Despite these reports of a fire and explosion aviation experts said that adverse wind conditions around the volcanic cone about 60 km (37 mi) south of Tokyo may have caused the crash. The vicinity of the 3,776 m (12,388 ft)-foot peak is notorious for tricky air currents. Technicians in New York said that a condition could exist where turbulent air could have caused the aircraft to undergo a drastic manoeuvre that might lead to a crash. Such violent forces, they said, might have caused an engine to disintegrate, possibly setting fire to the wing or fuselage."[11]

The probable cause determination was: "The aircraft suddenly encountered abnormally severe turbulence over Gotemba City which imposed a gust load considerably in excess of the design limit."[4]

This accident was one of five fatal aircraft disasters—four commercial and one military—in Japan in 1966, and occurred less than 24 hours after Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402 crashed and burned on landing at Haneda. Indeed, Flight 911 had taxied past the still smouldering wreckage of that Douglas DC-8 immediately before taking off on the flight that would shortly lead to its own accident.[12]

^Stone, Richard, "124 die in 2nd Japan air disaster" quote:"A BOAC spokesman said 75 of the Americans aboard were members of a tour sponsored by Thermo King Corp. of Minneapolis, Minn."

^United Press International (8 March 1966). "Fuji Jetliner Crash Left 63 Orphans in US". Pacific Stars And Stripes. At least 63 American children learned Saturday, or will learn someday, that their parents died in a plane crash halfway around the world.

^"Middle-Age Spread". Time,. 29 April 1966. Examining the wreckage of the BOAC airliner that crashed near Mount Fuji in March, U.S. and Japanese experts detected hairline cracks in the Boeing 707's shorn-off tail assembly.